Kalamazoo Klassic 5k Race Report

On Friday, I logged on to Facebook and my LRS had posted something about the Kalamazoo Klassic the next day. I had totally forgotten that I wanted to run that race this year and after some quick deliberation with Chris about time restraints on Saturday (we had Father's Day activities starting at 11:00 and the race started at 9:00) we decided I would have enough time to run it, drive home, shower and leave to meet up with his family. So I headed to the YMCA to register and pick up my t-shirt, bib and D-tag. While I was walking to the building I saw that the kids 1 mile race was going on and I so wish I had remembered about the race earlier so the girls could have done the 1 mile. It was honestly one of the cutest things I have ever seen, watching all those little kids "run" with their parents.

I woke up race day morning and wasn't really too hungry, so I ate a granola bar and drank some water on the way to the race. I parked and started to walk past the 10k racers who were finishing on my way to the 5k start. I had debated running the 10k, but I haven't really been running much lately and figured the 5k would be more than enough, and once I walked up a huge and incredibly long hill I was patting myself on the back for not doing the 10k since the hill was part of the 10k race route. I joined the crowd, stretched a little, talked to a few people I knew, listened to the National Anthem and then we were off.

Obligatory pre-race selfie.

I had run this race route before with the Urban Herd, so thankfully I knew what to expect. The first mile winds through a neighborhood and is relatively flat and the first water stop was near a coffee shop I like to go to. I walked as I drank my water (I cannot do the whole running and drinking from a cup thing without feeling like I'm going to drown myself) and saw that I had run my first mile in 9:59, pretty fast for me considering that lately I run closer to 10:30-11:00 miles when I'm not racing. I started running again for mile 2 which brought us past a golf course on a main road and then turned into another neighborhood. I felt like I was really pushing it at this point and when I grabbed a water at the mile 2 station I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I had run it in 9:33! I walked for about half a minute after I drank my water to calm my heart rate a bit and then started running again to finish the race. The last mile was all down hill which was awesome! I was feeling amazing and at this point I was calculating how fast I would have to run to meet my secret goal-my first ever sub 30 5k. I passed a ton of people and at 2.8 miles I really started to push it, so much that I wasn't feeling so hot, but I knew I could sub 30 if I kept up my pace. I turned the corner for the last .1 mile and gunned it across the grass to the finish, remembering to stop my Garmin when I crossed the timing mats (I usually forget) and immediately felt like I was going to throw up. I quickly walked over to a grassy area where there weren't many people and started walking around in circles. Thankfully I kept everything down and after some deep breaths I felt fine again. I stopped to grab another water and looked at the stats on my Garmin. I ran mile 3 in 9:19 and the last .1 mile in 0:40.7 meaning I ran my first ever sub 30 5k! My Garmin and chip time matched exactly at 29:32.

I am so excited that I came in under 30 minutes! I'm wondering at what point I will stop PRing 5ks though, since the last 4 out of 5 5ks I have raced I have PR'd. I'm only signed up for one more race this year, The Color Run in August, but I will probably sign up for a few more in the upcoming months.